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Sir: As former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, I should like to present my view of recent events there [Jan. 31]. The U.S. did not "ardently support" Juan Bosch for President. We would have had no reason to; the other leading candidates were equally friendly to the U.S. Nor was I in any sense the "primary backer" of President Bosch. He was freely elected by the Dominican people, and as U.S. ambassador I worked as best I could with him, as I had previously worked with the provisional government, to help strengthen Dominican democracy.
I considered the coup that overthrew him a serious blow to representative constitutional democracy. Your implication that I resigned because I disagreed with our policy of recognizing the regime that overthrew him is incorrect. I was in full accord with our policy of first withholding, then granting, recognition; I helped formulate it. I resigned to write a book about the Dominican Republic and the uses and limits of American power.
JOHN BARTLOW MARTIN Highland Park, Ill. The Snows of Yesteryear
Sir: You make a most unfair and incorrect reference to us in your Feb. 21 story on Beverly Hills. First it was not "one slow summer day," but just before Christmas, and we did not provide "sleds and skis for a couple of hundred friends." It was a long, hard, slogging job of several weeks' organization for a Christmas Snow Party to be given on the Beverly Hills Hotel grounds for Mrs. Abe Leah's charity for needy actors.
Every item, including the artificial snow, was donated. On the day of the party a freak storm washed out everything in a few hours. With the assistance of the studios and some good friends, Mrs. Rathbone in a few hours reorganized her party inside the Beverly Hills Hotel and still realized some $10,000 for the charity.
The day following the party Mrs. Rathbone, completely exhausted, went to the hospital with pneumonia.
BASIL RATHBONE New York City
> TIME bows to Actor Rathbone's memory of that exhausting party 24 years ago.—ED.
A Brave Man Sir: I wish to salute the Negro attache, Emerson Player, whom you mention in your article on Ghana [Feb. 14]. He is a truly brave man, and surely his act will be remembered by the Ghanaians and pondered when Red propaganda about mistreatment of Negroes is spouted.
BARBARA H. BELL El Cajon, Calif.
Real Mark Sir: The term realtor was misused in the Jan. 17 issue of TIME.
Realtor is not a synonym for real estate agent. A realtor is a person engaged in the real estate business who is a board member or an individual member of the National Association of Real Estate Boards. The term realtor is a collective mark (similar to a trademark) registered in the U.S. Patent Office by the National Association of Real Estate Boards, and may be used as a designation only by the 75,000 who are members.
EDWIN L. STOLL National Association of Real Estate Boards Washington, D.C.
Russian Amateurs?
Sir: I was absolutely amazed to discover TIME's revelation of Lidia Skoblikova's occupation: a schoolteacher! [Feb. 14].